The Soundtrack of Our Wedding, Created by Chris Peters and Madeline Benson
Some moments stay with you forever, and for us, one of those moments was hearing the first notes of our wedding ceremony music. We’d like to introduce you to the two incredible artists who made those moments unforgettable: Chris Peters and Madeline Benson.
Chris Peters and Madeline Benson performing at our wedding.
If you were at the wedding, you heard them perform live. If you’ve watched the ceremony videos here on our website or on our YouTube Channel, you’ve heard their work already. But what you might not know is just how special they are to us, and how their music helped shape the emotional heartbeat of our October 2024 wedding ceremony.
Let’s start with Chris. Jerry has known him since the day he was born. Their families are close in the truest sense… decades of history, friendship, and shared milestones. Jerry has camped with Chris’s parents every year since 1989. So when it came time to choose someone to create the musical foundation of our wedding, the decision was deeply personal and quite frankly, a no-brainer. Raised in North Haven, Connecticut, Chris’s early influences included 70s folk icons like Joni Mitchell and the lyrical honesty of John Mayer. To hear him perform, listen to his digital album, Grown-Up Stranger, on Bandcamp.
Madeline, Chris’s creative partner, was someone we came to know through him. And she blew us away. She’s not even 30 yet, and already she’s adapting Disney’s Tangled for the stage alongside composer Alan Menken, releasing a debut album title “Leave It All To Me,” and conducting on Broadway. When we heard her play for the first time in person, Jerry described it perfectly: “I was shocked at her talent.”
We gave Chris and Madeline very little instruction, just a couple of songs we loved, and our complete trust. One of the pieces, Love for the Last Time, was originally composed for the 1980s film Murphy’s Romance by Carole King. The sheet music was never officially published, so Chris and Madeline had to transcribe and rearrange it themselves. Neither of had even heard it until the moment it began at the ceremony, and we immediately knew it was perfect.
For Jerry, that was a very Jerry’s emotional moment, and in a good way of course.
For Nick, it was their performance of The Prayer, which is a soaring, heartfelt duet made famous by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli. “It felt like the music wrapped around the whole room,” Nick said. “I felt seen in that moment.”
To answer the obvious question, yes, you should absolutely hire Chris Peters and Madeline Benson. They’re brilliant, intuitive musicians who recently performed at Lincoln Center. The connection they created through their music elevated our ceremony into something we’ll never forget.
Chris and Madeline, thank you. Your music helped us say everything we couldn’t put into words.
With love,
Jerry & Nick